Fake News?
Reformation Sunday
October 27, 2019
Grace, Waseca, MN
John 8.31-36
“…you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”
A legend has it that five blind men approach an elephant and attempt to describe it. The first blind man, holding the trunk, says an elephant is like a hose. The second, grabbing an ear, says it’s a fan. The third blind man, wrapping his arms around a leg, says it is like a tree. The fourth touching the massive side, swears the elephant is like a wall. Whereas the fifth blind man, grabbing the tail, insists the elephant is like a snake. Each from his own perspective is absolutely sure he knows what an elephant is like.
We know all too well how truth can be a matter of perspective, but in our day and age it seems even more discouraging. It is said that we live in a post-truth society, where objective facts matter less than appealing to emotions or personal beliefs, that we don’t have a shared standard separating fact from opinion.
The situation seems more dire: not only can we not agree on what is true, there are people out there generating “fake news” to further their agenda. Just last Thursday it was revealed that a state senator in North Dakota knowingly circulated a false picture and story to attack a political opponent. His “apology” did not lessen his vitriol as he continued to attack his opponent. Furthermore, it has become commonplace to brand truth that you don’t like as fake news rather than arguing your position on its own merits. In such a climate, the Rotarians’ Four-Way Test seems a quaint relic: “Of the things we think, say and do: Is it the truth; is it fair to all concerned; will it build goodwill and better friendships; will it be beneficial to all concerned?”
Lest you think this a modern phenomenon, Jesus seeks to speak a word of truth to the crowds that have been following him. He says, “... you will know the truth and the truth will make you free,” a surprising word to them. You see, they come from a long line of “truth-spinners” going all the way back to Adam, who in one fell swoop pinned all the blame for his disobedience on both God and Eve. “This woman that you gave me” caused me to sin. The crowds erroneously claim they have never been slaves, yet who can forget the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians and now the Romans? Then Jesus tells a curious parable as only John’s Jesus can do about slaves and sons in households. Even so, the moral of the tale seems evident: freedom is found in relationship with Jesus as God’s incarnate truth.
It’s hard to believe, but some people don’t believe that Jesus ever existed, let alone represents truth. So, what does it mean in our post-truth, fake news culture for Jesus to claim to bring and be truth? First, we need to acknowledge there are different ways of knowing and that knowing Jesus is a relational term, much like we know those whom we are closest to. I know a lot about my wife; I can rattle off statistics and information, but that only scratches the surface of who she is as a person. It is my 40+ years of being in relationship that I begin to know her. It is similar with knowing Jesus. The word for continuing in Jesus means to rest, abide or remain; in modern speech, it means to hang together. We know Jesus when are with him.
Second, knowing Jesus as truth means that our lives are conformed to his and the truth he proclaims. Part of our transformation means rejecting the lie that we aren’t enough and have to be more, that lie that can do it all ourselves and have it all. Living Jesus’ truth means accepting the fact that we are accepted by God unconditionally and that each of us are worthy of love and belonging. Another part of living Jesus’ truth is allowing that love and acceptance to flow through us to others. And one more part means knowing we are forgiven when we fall short of living the truth.
Today is Reformation Sunday, a time when we remember, among other things, that God continues to move in, with and through the church in all its imperfections and shortcomings. We give thanks for such truth-abiders as Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, et al. It’s a time to proclaim, as one of my colleagues has said, that we have the truth in the Lutheran Church, but we don’t have all of it. Sometimes we might feel like those five blind men grasping at the elephant but we do know that Jesus is not fake news but rather good news. Jesus is the good news of God’s desire to love and bless the world, in us and through us. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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